About Council of American Overseas Research Centers
The Council of American Overseas Research Centers is a network of American overseas research centers dedicated to assisting American scholars conducting research on critical issues of U.S. national importance around the world.
Focus Areas
International researchHumanitiesSocial sciencesAllied natural sciencesHigher educationFaculty developmentForeign language studyCultural heritage preservationArchaeologyLibraries and scholarly resourcesAcademic and professional exchange
Who They Fund
subrecipient nonprofit organizations
About Council of American Overseas Research Centers
The Council of American Overseas Research Centers centers its work on pass-through support for overseas research networks and affiliated institutes, with recent grants flowing to organizations such as the West African Research Association and the American Institute for Maghrib Studies. Its grantmaking supports research, teaching, and cultural exchange through fellowships, logistical support, and collaborative programs for American scholars working across 29 countries worldwide. Recent awards also show sustained support for area-specific institutes that administer subgrants and research programs, including the American Research Center in Egypt and the American Research Institute in Turkey. The organization’s portfolio includes humanities and social science research, natural sciences, cultural heritage preservation, faculty development, and collection and library initiatives. Several of its active programs are designed for project-restricted support and use an intermediary model, with CAORC serving as administrator for grants that are then distributed through member centers and partner organizations. This structure makes the foundation function less like a direct individual-grantmaker and more like a fiscal and programmatic conduit for international research infrastructure.
What Council of American Overseas Research Centers Funds
In cultural heritage preservation, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers administers the Kaplan Responsive Preservation Initiative, which supports urgent preservation, documentation, and site management at cultural heritage sites. In humanities research, the CAORC-NEH Research Fellowship provides support for advanced research in one country with an Overseas Research Center as a base, with awards structured at $5,000 per month for four to six consecutive months. For transnational scholarship, the Multi-Country Research Fellowship funds research in two or more countries outside the United States for doctoral candidates and scholars with a PhD or terminal degree. Faculty development is another clear lane: Overseas Faculty Development Seminars and FLITE both support U.S. faculty and administrators in international education and curriculum internationalization.
How Council of American Overseas Research Centers Gives
Typical grant size is sizable and mid-six-figure support is common in the recent grants table, while the grant distribution itself also includes smaller fellowship awards such as the $12,600 Multi-Country Research Fellowship. The organization operates as an intermediary grantmaker: recent awards are repeatedly described as pass-through subgrants, and the funded entities are subrecipient organizations and project-level grantees. The pattern suggests recurring support to the same networked institutions over multiple years, including repeated awards across 2023, 2024, and 2025. CAORC does not fund individuals directly. Several active programs accept unsolicited applications, including the CAORC-NEH Research Fellowship and the Multi-Country Research Fellowship.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$4.5M
Total Assets
$4.7M
Total Revenue
$6.5M
Total Expenses
$6.3M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $101K and $243K, with a median of $153K.
25th Percentile
$101K
Median
$153K
75th Percentile
$243K
Geographic Reach
National10 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Heidi Wiederkehr
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